Be Present: 5 Situations You Should Never Use Your Phone In

At every opportunity, we are looking for new people to stalk. There’s no end to our search for ways to tell the world all the little things we are up to.

The mobile phone is a great invention and a powerful medium. While putting them down is far easier said than done (there’s no end to the research that tells us we’re addicted to them), here are five occasions when you absolutely shouldn’t be on them.

1. When you’re eating

Food is one of the greatest things in existence, and to think the little devices in our hands stop us from appreciating it is terrifying.

Eating is becoming less and less of an occasion in today’s world; we are more focused on photographing our food than with eating it.

Breakfast is often skipped, lunch is grabbed on the go and dinner is placed on our laps while our eyes are glued to the TV.

Being glued to your phone while you eat is likely going to make you feel like you haven't even eaten at all, leading to an unsatisfactory feeling once the food is finished.

You’ll also be more likely to pig out after.

As old-fashioned as it sounds, phones should be banned from the dinner table. Even if you are eating alone, you should take the time to lay the table, sit down and eat fully focused on the food you are eating.

2. Socializing with friends

When did it become socially acceptable to have a conversation with someone while looking at a screen?

We've all heard the majority of communication isn't actually verbal, so how much are we missing when we aren't even looking at who we are engaging in conversation with?

Take phones out of the equation and imagine having a conversation with someone who kept gazing into the distance, looking at his or her nails and turning his or her back on you.

Seems pretty rude, don't you think?

Well, using a phone really isn't any different.

It gives off the vibe that you aren't interested, and while this has become the norm, it doesn't make it acceptable.

Pay attention to what people are actually saying. There's plenty of time to be on your phone when you're alone.

3. When you're on vacation

Isn’t the whole point of a vacation to relax and take some much-needed time out from reality?

Don't you spend a ridiculous amount of money to escape to a life that's much better than your own? If you do, where does your phone fit into all of this?

Are you trying to make people jealous with your vacation snaps? Or can you not bear the thought of missing out on important gossip that might be posted?

Either way, you've paid good money to escape from reality. There is no way you can do that attached to your phone.

You can be on your phone absolutely anywhere, but there are few places you can completely detach yourself from life's little stresses. Switch it off and make the most of it.

4. During a night out

Nothing kills the mood of a dance floor like it being filled with people on their phones.

We’ve all seen how ridiculous it looks when people are setting a Snapchat story on a night out.

They stick out their arm (probably hitting some poor person in the face to get the perfect angle), sing into the camera really dramatically and then once the filming has ended, they stop.

They now switch to completely standing, still entranced by their Snapchat friends list, aimlessly selecting who to send it to. The problems with this are as follows:

A.) No one cares. No one wants to open a Snapchat of you singing (badly) at them. Yes, it tells everyone you are out, but it also makes you look like you're having a rubbish time.

And this brings me to B.) How much more fun would your night be if you weren't looking at it through a camera lens?

What ever happened to actually enjoying dancing/singing in a club without having to have photographic evidence?

5. When you first wake up

It's like instinct, isn't it?

We switch off our alarms, pick up our phones and work our way through each of the social media platforms every morning.

We've given absolutely no thought to our own day, but instead placed our focus entirely on the lives of others.

What were they up to the night before? What's in store for them today?

The few moments after you wake up set your mood for the day; it's usually the mood that sticks.

So what if you log on and your ex has posted a selfie with his new girlfriend who is skinnier than you, has bigger boobs and seems to have mastered contouring to perfection? My guess is that your day is pretty much doomed from the start.

Obviously if the thought of not checking your phone when you wake up is horrifying, compromise.

If spending your day without being up to date on social media is impossible for you to get your head around, just don’t make it the first thing you do.

Try waking up naturally just once, and see what it does to your mood for the rest of the day.

You never know, you might just find other people’s lives aren’t as interesting as you think.